Sussex speedway squad, the Eastbourne Eagles return to Arlington stadium this Saturday evening (7.30 p.m. start time) intent on salvaging their season as they play host to local rivals, the Lak eside Hammers in the second leg of their leg of their Knockout Cup semi-Final match up.
The tie, originally intended as the first leg of the contest before the weather intervened some three weeks ago, is now the second, and likely as not, the deciding leg of the clash with the Eagles having to play catch up, the Sussex side having slipped to defeat by an 11-point, 52-41 margin at the Purfleet venue on Wednesday 13th August.
Clearly the Eagles will be endeavouring to halt an alarming slide in both Elite League form and fortunes, recent weeks having seen then slump to crushing reverses on their travels to Lakeside, Poole and Coventry respectively, before back to back defeats at the hands of Ipswich and the Pirates in turn compounded their misery and snuffed out their lingering play off hopes.
By contrast Lakeside have proved arguably the team of the season, unfancied by many as the 2008 campaign dawned but they have emerged strongly as genuine contenders for both League and Cup honours as the weeks have unfolded. However, a tortuous run of injury woes have effectively hammered the Hammers in recent weeks, threatening to decimate what had seemed20sure to be a season rich in promise.
Life seemed to be getting better and better for Hammers team manager Jon Cook and his merry men, having enjoyed the best home record of any team in the senior section and a string of travelling victories applied severe pressure on the Poole Pirates as to who would top the table at the end of the regular season. However, injuries to key riders at crucial times, all within the last few weeks has threatened to undo all that good work. Joonas Kylmakorpi was the first to hit the sidelines, sustaining an injury in the Hammers recent trip to Dorset, and he was quickly followed onto the injury list by Swede Jonas Davidsson and former Eagle Adam Shields, who scored so prolifically as a guest as Eagles lost out to the Pirates last weekend, each rider suffering potential season ending injuries.
If the above was not already enough to contend with, due to a shortage of available dates, the tie had to be fixed for a weekend that clashed with the latest round of the World Grand Prix series, which means that both the Eagles, and the Hammers line up without their respective number ones, namely Scott Nicholls and Andreas Jonsson, each of whom will be plying their trade in Latvia.
This means that while the Eagles enter the fray, Nicholls apart, otherwise at full strength, the Hammers have had to prepare for battle minus four of their top scorers and just to compound the problem, free scoring number eight, Workington’s Kauko Nieminen is also unavailable to them.
Understandably, this is a scenario that the Eagles certainly wouldn’t crave, indeed if they are to claw back the difference against the Hammers and proceed to a Cup Final date against either Poole or the Coventry Bees (that semi-final having to go to a replay, the first attempt to decide a winner realizing 45-45 draws in both legs), clearly they would rather do it against as full strength an opposition side as possible.
However, having to play the cards as they are dealt, it’s hard to argue that Lakeside’s catastrophic misfortune has offered them a very real opportunity to preserve their Knockout Cup longevity while increasing the chances of grabbing some silverware to show for their efforts in season 2008.
As ever, they know only too well that they cannot afford to be complacent. Cook has proved time and again down the years that he has a certain knack for picking the right guest for the right occasion and in addition to utilising the Rider Replacement option for his absent number one, he might just have hit the right notes once again in coming up with cover for his injured stars.
Rory Schlein, the Australian recently moved from Coventry to Ipswich enters the fray in the absence of injured skipper Adam Shields. Indeed Schlein contributed 11-points to the Lakeside cause in the first leg of this tie as a guest in place of Jonsson, and he recently helped mastermind the Witches victory at Arlington only two weeks ago.
Fellow Aussie Kevin Doolan is currently on fire form wise for his Premier League club, King’s Lynn. Though he is currently concentrating his efforts solely on the lower league these days he has often a preferred guest by teams visiting Arlington in the past having shown a distinct liking for the circuit, and given that it is probably one of Davidsson’s least favoured tracks this could again prove a shrewd choice.
Indeed much could rest on the form shown by their final guest, American Billy Janniro. The American, currently is not enjoying the best of form with his club Coventry, but often that all seems to change on his visits to Sussex. Who could forget the quite superb performance as he hit double figures to help Eagles overcome the Swindon Robins last year at a time when the Sussex side was arguably at their lowest ebb. Also many long standing Eagles supporters will also recall the heroic role he played for their side, again as a guest as they so narrowly lost out to Wolverhampton in the 2002 Play Off Final.
Come what may, it would appear that Arlington stadium is the place to be on Saturday night as the Eagles go head to head with the Hammers, a place in the 2008 Knockout Cup final, the prize at stake.
Teams :
Eagles : 1. Rider Replacement for Scott Nicholls, 2. Lewis Bridger, 3. Lee Richardson, 4. Cameron Woodward, 5. Edward Kennett, 6. Simon Gustafsson, 7. James Brundle
Hammers : 1. Rider Replacement for Andreas Jonsson, 2. Leigh Lanham, 3. Rory Schle in (Guest for Adam Shields), 4. Kevin Doolan (Guest for Jonas Davidsson), 5. Billy Janniro (Guest for Joonas Kylmakorpi), 6. Ricky Kling, 7. Lubos Tomicek
